Electric Utility Distribution Shed - Placement and Style Discussion

[Bill Reidy]

Hopefully the central utility shed will be placed closer to the house and not where it would block the view from the street of the new turntable and roundhouse.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

What if the electric utility shed looks like a (off it's trucks) boxcar body?

[John Kokas]

Gee what a novel idea!  Actually there is an old Maine Central(?) 40' AAR boxcar body sitting in the woods just off the highway going north from Alna on 218 before you get to Whitefield.  Look for it on Google Earth and you can see the roofline in the woods.  Lat/Long is 44 Deg 9 min 37.77 sec North, 69 Deg 37 min 13.57 sec West.  Also, I believe there was an old MOW boom truck there also (as of 2011-12).

What the hey, maybe we could get a donation and trucking would be close.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

I was thinking of a wooden two-foot car body, similar to 309 thats 6X30'.  It would fit in better than a standard gauge steel car body like the BAR reefer that's up in Whitefield.  Once the old parking lot is gone and the turntable is in place the the car body would look as though it was set out in the yard as a tool shed.

[Dave Crow]

Stewart, would you actually want to build another boxcar body?  Count me in!  Maybe a replica of one of the boxcar/caboose carbodies so that there are some windows for light (401?, 402?).

Dave C

[Brendan Barry]

Dave if the building was built to look like a boxcar the foundation walls would have to be 2 to 3 feet high to have enough wall height for mounting the electrical panels and have room for conduit to come in the floor. The actual "boxcar" would be framed as a normal building that looks like a boxcar. The foundation could be set in the ground somewhat to keep the height down. I also imagine a normal standard height door on the house side where the boxcar door would be.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Hi Dave,

A boxcar body would look good, a caboose body would be more involved but have better doors and windows.  Either way the power shed would not be built to Portland Company specs because the structure goes on a concrete pad and framing would be 2X6's .  Another idea is to have a square building (about 12X12) that would resemble a crossing shanty with a door and windows.  

The final decision is up to the BoD and our electrician, Josh who has a good plan for a much needed upgrade of the power distribution system on the campus.  One of the first parts of the upgrade is to get power to the garage.  

[Wayne Laepple]

Would the Prebles station building be large enough?

[Ed Lecuyer]

I would rather see the Prebles station at a crossing on the line somewhere (in a semi-public place, like Trask's crossing) rather than repurposed into an electrical shed.

For the electrical shed, I like Start's idea for a boxcar-like body; from the outside it could look like a Portland Co. car, but built with all modern construction materials, set on a concrete pad, etc. I also like Dave C's idea to model it after a car like 61, 301, 302, or 303; all which had end doors and windows. (See Narrow Gauge in the Sheepscot Valley, Vol. IV, pgs 58, 64 - 70)

[Wayne Laepple]

Okay, I'll concede that a boxcar body would probably be better than the Prebles structure. I have two concerns. First, it's another building that distracts our talent from our primary project, which is the railroad. If we are going to bring in bus groups and more passengers with our expanded marketing efforts, we need additional passenger  rolling stock as much as we need  another building. Second, if it's placed somewhere in the current parking lot, it takes the eye away from the turntable and roundhouse, not to mention the proposed display track. I don't especially like the idea of cluttering the property with any more buildings than we need. Is there any reason why the electrical distribution panel couldn't be located in the basement of the Percival house?

Actually, I kind of like the idea of a standard gauge boxcar body. After all, if it were positioned somewhere close to a narrow gauge track and one of our narrow gauge freight cars were parked adjacent, it would be easer for visitors to understand the relationship between standard gauge and our two-footer.

NOTE: I made a couple of edits to my above to better reflect what I was trying to point out.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The power house location was specified by Josh who is designing the master plan for electric distribution.  One reason for the location is that the main CMP feed from the pole is just across the road from about where #9's original boiler sits.  If we want a smaller structure, Josh suggested a square building.  It could be made to look like a period crossing shanty.

Again, final decision will be the Board's to decide on a structure to accomodate the equipment and the man who's doing the wiring.

Like the restroom building, this is just another building that we need to bring the museum up to safe and efficient distribution of power.  

[Ed Lecuyer]

Like the restroom building, this is just another building that we need to bring the museum up to safe and efficient distribution of power.  

Hmm. The only power distribution coming out of the restroom building is probably natural gas, not electric.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Shoulda worded that better.  Note to self: don't post while on the phone! 

Of course I meant that building a restroom or power house structure is not as much fun as a boxcar or roundhouse but it's an essential to improving the museum.

Well Ed, is dat better??   

[Ed Lecuyer]

Of course. Just givin' you some crap.

[Wayne Laepple]

Since the electrical service building is to be a permanent structure, maybe it should constructed of brick rather than wood.